What is Your 2018 LinkedIn Training Plan?

Knowledge and skill are relative.

While I may take a two or three yoga classes per week, I am no expert. Left to my own devices, my poses disintegrate into half a pose far too soon and the sequence that seems ever so important becomes a jumbled mess where my breathing sounds labored rather than even, deep and continuous.

After writing this post, I noticed this headline on my LinkedIn Feed: Capital One Wants to Train All Employees in Technology.You won’t be able to read the entire article unless you are a Wall St. Journal reader but it’s an indication that teaching tech is on the radar as a way to enhance skills and knowledge.

So, as you budget for 2018, I want to encourage you — CEOs, business owners, marketers, recruiters, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, to not only consider ten reasons why you need to include LinkedIn coaching and training as part of your 2018 training or professional development program but to answer the questions below. The answer to these questions will inform how you move forward and celebrate you and your team’s good work.  

Review your executive leadership team’s LinkedIn profiles (CEO or business owner included) with the following in mind:

1. If your largest client’s CEO reviewed your leadership team’s profiles, would they be impressed?
2. Would your client understand how your company serves their clients?
3. Does their profile look like their resume?
4. Do they have an up to date professional photo?
5. Do they have few connections?

Review your sales team’s LinkedIn profiles with the following in mind:

1. Would their clients and prospects understand how your salespeople help solve problems, provide a superior product or service, and add value?
2. Do their profiles look like resumes of quota-crushing salespeople who are going to “sell” as soon as they talk to someone?
3. Do they have an up to date professional photo?
4. Are they connecting with the right people (clients, prospects, centers of influence etc.)?
5. Are they sharing the content your marketing team is creating, (assuming you are creating original blogs, white papers, ebooks, and videos)?

Review your hiring and talent acquisition team’s LinkedIn profiles with the following in mind:

1. Are they leveraging their LinkedIn profiles to talk about why your company is a preferred employer?
2. Are they creating a potential bench of candidates for your company?
3. Does their LinkedIn profile and network include a company description or value proposition?
4. Do they have an up to date professional network?

Over and over, people tell me they use LinkedIn every day. In fact, I was working with a group last week where well over 75% of the group said they were on LinkedIn everyday and felt rather confident with using LinkedIn. When I asked them to check their Social Selling Index score, which is based on their professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights and building relationships only one person had a score of more than 50.

Why use the Social Selling Index score as a barometer to determine how effective someone is on LinkedIn? It’s objective. It’s not my opinion but LinkedIn’s algorithm at work. It level sets an individual or team quickly and focuses people’s activity so they can become more effective. I talk with people every day who think their profile is perfectly acceptable until they begin to understand how their profile could look. It’s all relative.

Controlling your story and building your brand and network, whether one individual or a company of 10,000, requires ongoing insight, coaching and training. Don’t let another year slip by without thinking strategically about how you and your team can increase your sales and recruiting funnels through LinkedIn.

Take some first steps:

• Read more about your Social Selling Index score
• Take our Do You Need LinkedIn Training? quiz by clicking the link or accessing below

If you score less than a 65 on your Social Selling Index or on our quiz, do one of the following:

• Download our free resources or subscribe to our blog
• Decide you’re ready to move forward with coaching, team training or consulting and schedule a call to discuss
• Send me an email and let me know if you are interested in learning more about our upcoming online learning

This post was originally published on Intero Advisory’s website in October 2017. Please note that LinkedIn is constantly changing. While it’s current now, it may not be in the coming weeks or months.